Site Re-design

MIA UK: http://www.miauk.com/
This is a website promoting the music group MIA. It is design to promote merchandise as well as tour dates and appearances.

This siezure inducing site could use more than a little work. To start, I would change the background. Right now, the amount of colors and the flashing grahics probably give more headaches and drive away users than anything else. I would use something simler than would still attract the target demo.

At the bottom of the page I would add navigation and a contact link which should run through out the site. The way it is set up now is that you have to click the back button to get back to the home page or to any other links. I think navigating the site is the biggest current problem.

I would also make sure that the design of the site flowed from one page to the next. As it is now, I thought I was connected to a different site when I clicked on a link to a different page.

Web Site Reviews

Good Web Site:
Gap Web Site: http://www.gap.com/
This is a very clean and attractive web site. In terms of design, the colors are neutral so they do not compete with the clothing. There are very neat lines so the eye can flow down the page and not get lost. It is a very user friendly site. There is navigation at the top and bottom, so the user can easily get to the part of the site that they are searching for. One can easily find what they are looking for in 3 clicks. The content of the site is simple and straight forward. There is some information that highlights the pictures of the clothing, but the focus is kept on the clothing. It definitely fits for the target audience that the site is aiming at. Overall, this simple site is very easy to use and attractive while doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing, highlighting the clothes.



Web Site Needing Improvement:
MIA UK Web Site: http://www.miauk.com/
This website has some major design issues. There is so much going on in terms of colors and flashing graphics that it was hard for me to even look at the page for long periods of time. There was even a warning that the web page might cause seizures. The web page is also not very user friendly. There is no navigation on the bottom of the pages and some pages scroll down extremely far so it’s difficult to find your way back to the top. Additionally, the links on the home page are one way, if you want to go to another link you have to back track to the homepage to go move to another part of the site. The content also leaves something to be desired. Some of the pages are unfinished and do not even share the same theme as the homepage. My overall opinion of this website is that it needs a lot of work. It is distracting and lacks a focus and theme and bounces in several different directions.

Web 2.0 DIY: Mindomo

Mindomo is a program that allows users to easily create brainstorms and organize ideas. This tool can be very useful for students, it can be used for work projects, it can be used around the house, ect. A student might use this tool to map out a paper, while a businessman might use it to brainstorm for a advertising project. Files are saved into the program, so you can switch computers and still have all your document s ready to go.

It's a Dog Eat Dog World

image editing

This was an image i edited with www.picnik.com . I used the special effects editor and applied the focal point effect.

Presentation

Evaluating Web 2.0 Sites

Flickr

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MyMediaRoom

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